


Peter's Never-ending Stubborness

by karenninaaa



Series: Family Ties [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Ned Harley Peter are good bros, Pepper is Peter's mom, Pepperony - Freeform, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), he was like tony's first son, i couldnt just ignore Harley y'know, i swear they could start a world invasion if those three team up, sort of spideychelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-26 21:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15010196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karenninaaa/pseuds/karenninaaa
Summary: Tony was on the verge of pulling his hair out in frustration when Peter always did the opposite of what he said, resulting to some reckless actions.





	1. Chase

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ: This is the start of the series based on my other fic Twist of Fate, where Peter Parker was Tony’s biological son. For those new readers who haven’t read that fic yet, you don’t necessarily have to read that before reading this for this to make sense because I wrote this independently. This was NOT a sequel to that. There were only two things you have to know:  
> 1.This fic and all succeeding fics of this series happened in the span of two years after civil war and before Infinity war.  
> 2.Ned, Peter and Harley are friends and attending Stark Industries internship. Harley was in New York for college and Internship.
> 
> This chapter is beta-ed thanks to ever wonderful gammathetaalpha. If you're also into the Amazing Spider-Man movie and a cross-over with the Avengers, go read her amazing fic on FFN, Infiltration.
> 
> Enjoy reading!

 

Tony sat on the couch of the lounge area of the Avengers Compound. He could feel a headache forming.

He could swear that the headache just got worse as Peter and Harley stood in front him and as he got a better view of his kids. They had both acquired a large collection of bruises, cuts, and other various injuries. They looked like they'd emerged from a gang fight.

_Oh wait, they actually did._

“So what have we got here,” Tony began. The teens flinched at his snarky voice. Good. The fact that the two were aware of the consequences of what they'd done gave him a little bit of a satisfaction.

He continued.

“Mr. Harley Keener acquired a split lips, a cut on his temple, and some bruises on the face. Oh! There’s also a bruise and a cut on his knuckles! Did he get a new hobby, as a curator of a personal bruise collection, or is he running as the new leader of a Yakuza? Of course, let’s not forget, Mr. Parker here.” He turned at his other son. “You’re wearing a cast now because you managed to bust up your arm and there’s gauze pad peeking from the collar of your shirt because of what, a bullet graze? Did I tally the right amount of injuries from your little adventure? And by the way, you two are grounded.”

Harley opened his mouth.

Tony pointed a finger at him. When he spoke, his voice was strained. “I don’t care if you’re already in college. You’re still sixteen. God, what would your mother say if she saw you? You look like a humanoid eggplant. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she came barging in here, filing an abuse charges against me and pack you off back to Tennessee.”

Harley closed his mouth.

“And you, Peter. Really? Where am I not clear about dropping the whole Logan Pierce business? Where am I not clear that the authorities are handling this? And it’s not just that. You jeopardized your Uncle Rhodes’ mission and you could have gotten killed. Which again thank God Rhodes was there. If he hadn't, you would've been toast. Burnt, charcoaled, smoking toast. No Spider-Man for you for a decade.”

That’s when Peter and Harley turned into bona fide lawyers, eagerly defending their cases.

Peter spoke. “But Dad! I don't feel like the authorities were doing anything-”

“Uncle Rhodes would take offense to that if he heard you,” Tony said.

“Pierce almost hurt MJ!” Peter continued. “And he’s terrorizing a lot of people because he’s still out there roaming free! I just can’t stand there and watch him do shitty things for another day.”

“Watch your language, young man and that’s another decade of no Spider-Manning for you.”

“Besides,” Harley added. “I didn’t start the fight with Chris in the bar. He was harassing Meghan. And what do you want me to do, just watch on the sidelines?”

“But it doesn't change the fact that you two sneaked past your curfews and disobeyed me!” Tony shouted, standing up. Both boys took a step back. “And what did it cost you? Vital evidence against Peirce slipping out of grasp, and him getting away? Bruises and a bullet wound, Christ, a bullet wound Peter. And I don’t care if you heal overnight, if that bullet went in another way, you could've died!”

Tony was livid. He clenched and unclenched his hands as he narrowed his eyes at the teens.

Silence reigned on them. The boys’ faces were masked with guilt. It almost gave Tony a little bit of comfort that at least, it was sinking into their thick teenage skulls what they had almost done. Keyword, _almost,_ because the truth was it didn’t give him enough comfort, when it was still weighing on Tony the disaster that happened earlier that night.

If Tony would think how everything led to this, the first thing that would come to his mind was blueberry waffles and how everything started from it.

 

_72 hours earlier._

Tony walked through the corridor of the silent Avengers compound.  He stopped in front of a door and opened it. It was dark inside. A ray of sunlight was seeping through the thin gap of the closed curtains. Half-open textbooks and papers were scattered on the study table. As Tony walked in, he stepped on a discarded sock on the floor. He paused and looked down at it for a second, before resuming his steps towards the bed.

“Dim lights on, Friday,” Tony ordered.

The whole room went bright, but not too bright because Tony knew how Peter hated too much light upon waking up in the morning. It literally hurts his eyes, well, because of his enhanced senses.

Peter stirred.

“Up, up, little Spidey. You’re going to be late for school. You slept through your alarm.” Tony stopped by the bed. “Friday was so close to banging pots and pans in your ear.”

Peter just groaned in response and pulled the duvet over his head. Typical. Tony was aware that Peter had to stay late last night because of some English essay due the next day. Only a few hours of sleep meant a grumpy Peter the next Thursday morning.

Tony just sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Also, May called earlier and said that you’re going to stay with me for the night today, because she’s doing a double shift to cover for a friend.”

Another muffled groan emitted from Peter underneath the covers.

Tony went for another tactic. He gave his son a side glance. “You know, Harley dropped by for breakfast and he’s downstairs.”

Harley Keener was no stranger to them. Ever since he'd graduated high school early and went to New York for college and a Stark internship, he’d often dropped by, both at the compound or the Stark mansion. Harley might not be biologically related to Tony but the kid was very much like a son to him.

“Don’t care, lemme sleep.” Peter mumbled.

“I would love to give you more sleep, but school remember?” Tony coaxed.

“Screw it. Five more minutes.”

“And apparently, your enhanced senses are as grumpy as you because I bet on a usual day you could already smell Pepper’s blueberry waffles, your favourite, from a three hundred foot distance, and your mom _is_ making waffles this morning. What’s even more was, Harley is probably already snagging all the waffles and OJ downstairs.”

Peter groaned. Good, only a little more convincing, and he'd have Peter out of bed. Tony continued. “Might as well remind you that if you miss this chance, you won't be able to eat the patented Pepper waffles for another week because she’s going on an overseas business trip later, and she’ll be gone for a few days. Also, there was only one orange juice carton left in the fridge and the new stock won't arrive until later. I know you can’t function like a normal human being without that. So what I am saying is, you’re going to miss a lot this morning if you choose to sleep for five more minutes.”

Tony waited for a moment. Peter didn’t budge.

Tony stood up. “Alright-”

He was cut off by Peter jolting up in the bed.

“God, I hate Harley.” Peter said groggily, as he crawled out of the bed and went for the bathroom adjoining with his quarters.

Tony smirked triumphantly. “Good morning to you too, we’ll be waiting downstairs. Don’t you dare sleep in the bathroom or else, there will be no waffles and OJ for you.”

“I’m gonna web Harley to the ceiling if he stole all the waffles.” Peter’s voice echoed from the bathroom.

That was enough confirmation for Tony that Peter was truly awake. He started to head out the room. Then he paused, and turned around. He picked up the discarded sock on the floor and put it in the laundry hamper not from afar. He left the quarters satisfied.

 

Peter, in his signature hoodie and science pun shirt, entered the kitchen. His backpack was slung over one shoulder. His dad was sitting at the head, with Harley on his right. Harley looked like a chipmunk, his cheeks bulging with food. His mom was just putting down on the table a plate of freshly made waffles.

“Morning, dear, you’re just in time.” Pepper smiled at Peter. She sat on Tony’s left.

“Morning, mom,” Peter greeted, as he eagerly strode towards the table at the sight of waffles and totally ignoring other food laid on the table.

Peter would never forget the day he caught Pepper making waffles in the kitchen. It was like he’d made a monumental discovery for the advancement of mankind. Pepper’s waffles were just the best. They made manufactured waffles taste like cardboard. Tony joked about starting a Stark Waffles stand, but then, Tony and Pepper started to argue about the name. The argument grew so heated, Peter started to worry they'd start slapping each other with the waffles, instead of eating them. In the end, they settled for a Potts-Stark waffle. Go figure.

 “Heard that you’re grumpy as an old man this morning,” Harley said, after swallowing the food in his mouth.

“Blame Macbeth for lack of sleep.” Peter pulled out a chair beside Harley and sat. He put his backpack on an empty chair next to him. Then he looked at Harley. “How many waffles did you already eat?”

“A dozen, I guess.” Harley shrugged, sipping on a glass of his orange juice.

“Right, so no waffles for you now,” Peter reached for the plate of waffles. But then he paused, plate mid-air as he looked at his mom and dad who were looking bemusedly at them. “Waffles?”

“We’re good, thank you, it’s all yours.” Pepper said, through an amused smile.

“Yep, you’ll probably tear this kitchen apart if you didn’t get your regular dose of patented Pepper’s waffles. We can’t risk that.” Tony’s lips quirked up.

“Thank you.” Peter said, placing the plate of waffles in front of him.

Harley just rolled his eyes.

Peter started digging happily into the waffles. No better way to start the day then by having his favourite waffles as breakfast. While eating, he also picked the carton of orange juice from the table. He paused on the lightness of the carton upon lifting it, as if it’s almost empty. He looked accusingly at Harley who was again, contentedly sipping on his glass. “You drank all the juice!”

“I thought we had an unspoken agreement that he who touches the holy OJ first will get the privilege.” Harley shrugged again.

“Did you also hear how much I hate you?”

“Stop whining, man up.”

“Really, look who’s whining about the scarcity of pop tarts the other day?”

Pepper looked at Tony who was sipping on his black coffee.

“What?” Tony glanced up from his mug. He put down the mug at the table. “You’re not going to tell me to make a run to a grocery store for orange juice. I have people who do that, but definitely not me.”

“Should I be worried about the sugar intake of your kids?” Pepper asked instead.

Tony thought about it for a moment.

“They’ll be fine.” Tony decided, as he looked back at Peter and Harley arguing.

What a typical morning for the Stark family.

 

“Hey, so the other reason why I’m here other than getting tired of rubbish dorm food and a craving for Pepper’s waffles was to tell you that the upgrade we’ve been doing on the nanochip for days, was finally a success.” Harley informed Peter.

They were walking down the gravel path of the Avengers Compound while Tony was on the lead. Tony was going to drive Peter and Harley to their school and university, respectively. A sweet gray Audi was waiting for them in the distance.

“Really?” Peter’s face lit up as he gazed back at Harley. “And you know you could have just told me that later at Stark Industries, right?”

“Got excited on it and Pepper’s waffles,” Harley said. “Since it was a success, it would totally help us on tracking Logan Pierce-”

“Ah-ah,” Tony turned around facing the teens and finally decided to butt in their conversation. “I heard a taboo word. Peter, didn’t you tell Harley that Spider-Man would drop the whole Logan Pierce mission?”

Harley turned his head to Peter whose expression shifted into a glum look. Apparently, Harley was not informed about this new update as he mouthed an _Oh_ and _Why_ to Peter _._

While on a patrol last week, Spider-Man had come across a huge group of illegal drug dealers. Some of them had been already caught by the cops and some had not. So Spider-Man did an investigation to hunt down the rest of them with the help of Ned and Harley. And when they did a little bit more digging on the subject, they discovered a connection of this drug dealers group to Logan Pierce that he was probably behind all the illegal transactions. Logan Pierce was a wealthy business man and the CEO of LP Pharmaceuticals. As a result, the hunt of the bad guys had shifted to Logan Pierce instead because they believed that catching the big guy would eventually lead to the downfall of the whole group. They had been trying to find solid evidence against the businessman for days, but to no avail.

However, after  Peter told the whole thing to his dad, first thing next morning, Tony was already ordering him to drop their little mission and to leave the investigation to the authority who knew better,  much to Peter’s protest.

“But dad, we were so close!” Peter had complained to Tony.

“Because Spidey, it’s dangerous-”

“Aren’t all criminals dangerous?”

“But this is like Class D, supreme dangerous. And this was way past your little guy category-”

“And since did we have categorization of danger and criminals?”

“Zip it, buddy. The adult is talking, stop interrupting me. I know Pierce, met him twice and from the first time I met him I didn’t like him already. He’s greedy and a power hungry buffoon. He’s on the Justin Hammers’ lane. You remember Justin Hammer, right?”

“Yeah-”

“That’s why drop it, Underoos. You hear me?”

“Yeah,” Peter grumbled.

“Go find other criminals to annoy and catch.”

“Because I said so,” Tony answered Harley’s mouthing of why. His voice brought Peter back to present when his mind made a little trip to the memory lane of his recent conversation with his dad about Logan Pierce.

“Come on,” Tony continued ushering them towards the car. “You all will be late.”

 _It sucks._ Harley continued to mouth at Peter when Tony turned around.

 _I know._ Peter mouthed back.

 

“I guess we’ll just have to find another use for this nanochip.” Harley said staring down at the Petri dish laid on the table. The dish contained a tiny, thin, square, and transparent plastic sheet with miniscule wires and conductors attached to the sheet. One wouldn’t have noticed that there was something inside the dish if he didn’t look closely. “But man, a sheet that houses a terabyte of memory with upgraded tracking and hacking features specifically built for Pierce, what a waste.”

They were in Stark Industries for their usual afternoon internship after their classes. Peter sagged on the chair with his hands shoved in the pockets of his lab coat while Ned was spinning around in his rolling chair.

“Besides,” Ned paused, facing Harley. “We haven’t figure out the external casing of the chip and the chip won’t last long without a stable power source. Have you already tested it?”

“Last night. I tested the other prototype. I managed to fuse it with alkaline batteries for the time being.” Harley shrugged. “Tracked down my dorm mate with it, which I totally regretted,” He then winced. “The messages that I managed to hack in on his phone made my eyes bled. I wouldn’t do it again.”

“Cool –not the messages you hacked in, but that it totally worked. How long did the chip last?” Ned asked.

“Approximately ten minutes and then it self-destructed. And my dorm mate is going to wonder why there was a charred something on the pocket of his backpack.”

“Good luck on the other things in that pocket.” Ned said.

“Oh, I was nice enough to transfer some of the important things to the other pocket while he was showering. The only thing that died with that chip was probably the condoms. . .”

“Dude!” Ned was snickering.

“Yeah, yeah,” Harley was nodding. “I could only imagine the frustration of my dear dorm mate when he discovered it at the most inconvenient time.”

Ned continued to snicker while Harley turned to look at Peter who was now silently tinkering on a small contraption laid on the table.

“Someone’s still sulking,” Harley noted.

Ned tilted his head to look at Peter in sympathy. “Don’t worry Pete, we could probably find another thrilling adventure for Spider-Man.”

Peter sighed as he glanced back at his friend, pausing at his work. “It’s just that, Spider-Man started it, shouldn't he at least see it through to the end? It feels like I'm just letting the criminal go free.”

“Tony said that the authorities were already acting on it, so I guess let’s just wait for the news of Pierce behind bars,” Harley said.

“Yeah,” Peter answered half-heartedly.

“Besides, this isn't the first time that Tony has made you drop an investigation.” Ned added. “And you obediently followed all of them.”

“Right,” Another sigh came from Peter. “I just can't shake off this bad feeling about Pierce.”

“What feeling? Like Spidey tingling kind of feeling?” Ned inquired.

“I don’t know, man. You know what, let’s just forget about it.” Peter said, going back to his work.

The latter two stared at Peter for a moment, before Ned decided to change the subject.

 “What are you working on?” Ned stood up to look at Peter’s work closely. Harley did the same.

“Oh, you know since we’re doing a lot of mini stuff here, I thought about ultra thin size scanner with hyper spectral lenses . . .” Peter explained to them.

 

The three of them were walking down the street and at the sidewalk after their internship when they heard a loud commotion not from afar. Before they could say anything, Peter was already on the lead, running towards the source of commotion.

“Peter!” Ned shouted, but the latter two followed him anyway.

Peter reached the said commotion quickly. The commotion they heard was people doing a protest in front of a building. And that building happened to be the LP Pharmaceuticals. People united, expressing their sentiments holding placards and signages. Peter stood at a distance from them as he observed the people rallying. There were also some media gathered around them, covering them live. Harley and Ned reached Peter, out of breath.

“Rude, Parker,” Harley said catching his breath. “Leaving your friends like that.”

But Peter was not listening as he continued to look ahead.

“Huh,” Ned said also noticing the people and the placards. “So, apparently Logan Pierce wasn’t just all about illegal drug dealings but also breaking labor law codes?”

“MJ . . .” Peter trailed off.

“What?” Ned turned to Peter.

“MJ’s with the people protesting.” Peter said.

“Do I need to wear prescription eyeglass now or is it just your times ten enhanced eyesight?” Harley asked.

Peter ignored him again as someone came out from the main entrance. The angry shouts grew louder. That someone was Logan Pierce himself. He was wearing a gray pinstripe suit. He was in his fiftees, with a skinny build, upturned nose and a sharp look. He was surrounded by bodyguards.

“Bold of him to come out of the main entrance after all that’s happening.” Harley mused.

Reporters tried to get close to Pierce and get some scope out of him.

“What’s your reaction about the speculation of LP Pharmaceuticals violating some labor laws and unfair cutting of wages and benefits from your employees?” A reported shouted at him.

Pierce stopped to acknowledge the reporter. “There must have been some kind of misunderstanding. LP Pharmaceuticals would never do such a thing. We will do everything to resolve it. That’s all I have to say about it. Thank you.” And he continued walking towards his car.

This caused another outburst from the protesters. The bodyguards did their best to protect the CEO when people tried to get close to Pierce.

“No.” Peter whispered. He saw MJ get ahead of the crowd and stride towards Pierce. That’s when Peter ran towards them.

“Really,” Harley rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly, though they followed Peter once again.

“How about examining your accounting check?” MJ shouted when she’s on a good distance with Pierce. “Are you sure you’re paying all your employees right? And not just covering it up to get all the bucks to yourself?”

Pierce paused when he saw and heard MJ. He almost frowned, but quickly changed his expression into a neutral one, when he remembered that all cameras were on him. Meanwhile, a bodyguard shove MJ out of the way, as Pierce resumed his steps towards his car. She stumbled back and lost her balance. She already had braced herself for the impact of hitting the ground, but it never came, when strong hands gripped both of her arms from behind. She looked up and saw Peter holding her in place.

“Hi, uh, y-you okay?” Peter stammered as he steadied her.

“Yeah, thank you. Now, hands off.” MJ said.

Peter let her go, raising his hands in surrender.

“I thought, you just went for light protesting . . .?” Peter asked.

“This was supposed to be a light protesting but everything went to shit when that bastard had a nerve to lie straight to our faces.” MJ narrowed her eyes seething in anger.

“Right,” Peter answered. He would never get used to seeing MJ angry. She was really scary when she got like that.

“And why are you here- you know what, I’m not even surprised. You’re always popping up like almost everywhere.” MJ continued. “Anyway, I have to go, bye loser.”

Then MJ walked away joining the other protesters. Harley and Ned joined Peter as the latter watched MJ’s retreating figure.

“I think I totally understand now the bad feeling you’re having about that asshole.” Harley said.

Peter’s attention turned to Pierce, who was climbing into an expensive car in the distance. His hands clenched.

“Uh, Pete,” Ned said. “I think we should go, some of the reporters are starting to recognize you, and Happy’s not here to ward them off.”

Months of the world knowing that Peter was Tony’s son, but Peter seemed to be always on the top of media’s favourite hot topic, even though it toned down when Tony threatened the media if they wouldn’t leave Peter alone. Peter gave MJ a last glance, before walking away.

 

 

“Here’s the thing, I don’t understand.” Logan said quietly into the phone he was holding against his ear. He absentmindedly stared out of the tinted car windows, out at the busy street. “I don’t understand how a puny kid managed to get into my accounting books. Fix this. I don’t want this mess getting in the way of our huge deal coming up. _Joe_ wouldn’t be happy with this and we don’t want that. Fix this or you will pay the price.” He hung up. His face twisted into a malicious glare, as he stared ahead.

 

 

“Dad!” Peter stomped towards the lab in the Avengers Compound.

Tony frowned at the voice as he wiped his greased hands with a rag and turned around. He saw his son walking towards him. His backpack was slung on his back. Peter’s eyebrows were drawn together and his lips were downturned.

“Woah, woah, bad day in school?” Tony asked. “Why do you look like a hedgehog with all its spikes up?”

“Have you watched the news?” Peter asked back.

“Nothing that interests me so far,” Tony shrugged.

Peter sighed frustratingly. “News about Logan Pierce-”

“Oh no,” Tony started to walk toward the long table closest to their location, the rag still hanging loosely from his greasy hands. “We are not discussing this subject again.”

Peter followed Tony. “Well apparently, Logan Pierce is also into violating employee rights now, in addition to illegal drug dealing. Are you sure that the authorities are doing something about this?”

“Yes, I am very sure.” Tony put the rag down on the table when he reached it. “So rest your case about it, okay.”

“For how long the authorities are going to work on this? I bet if we could-”

“Nah-uh,” Tony turned around to face Peter. “There’s no _we_ in here-”

“-just do something about it so everything will go faster and no people will have to suffer at his hands anymore!” 

Tony gave Peter a look, one that clearly said, _‘son, you’d better shut up now.’_ Peter immediately got the message. He clamped his mouth shut.

Tony sighed, walking towards Peter. “Trust me kid, our good folks are already into it and doing something better than we could do combined. They’re more experienced at this stuff.”

Peter didn’t answer and continued pouting.

“I ordered pizza. Hawaiian . . .” Tony stated.

“With extra pineapples?”  Peter said in a small voice.

“With extra pineapples.” Tony confirmed smiling. “I’ll just take a shower, the pizza should be here any minute and then we can watch tv, pick your channel.”

They started to walk side by side.

“How about Spongebob?” Peter started to smile back.

Tony sighed exasperatedly. “Aren’t you getting tired of Squidward’s face?”

Peter grinned at him. “No, I just want to torture you with Squidward’s face.”

Tony feigned a shock look. “You, sly spider! Is this your way at getting back at me?!”

Peter continued to grin. He started to feel a lot better than earlier. “Maybe?”

Their playful banter echoed out in the lab.

But it didn’t mean that Peter forgot everything else, especially Logan Pierce.

 

The next morning, Peter entered the library of their school where he knew MJ was. Upon entering the lab, he immediately saw MJ sitting in the corner table. He made his way towards her. He stopped behind her, instead of the usual thick novel she usually had, there were several papers, clipping and some newspaper articles with a logo of LP Pharmaceuticals laid on the table.

Peter cleared his throat quietly to let his presence known. MJ turned around and looked up at Peter. She spoke quietly. “Decathlon’s practice is at three.”

Peter pulled a chair and sat beside her. “I know.”

“Then why are you here?” MJ asked, mildly confused.

“Can I ask you a question?” Peter said.

MJ turned back on her work. “If you’re going to ask me about how I got the formula right on our Chemistry pop quiz, not gonna tell you. Figure it out on your own.”

“Oh that, I already figured it out earlier, but that’s not what I wanted to ask,” Peter said. “Why do you do that?”

MJ frowned glancing up at Peter. “What that?”

“That,” Peter pointed at the papers about LP Pharmaceuticals. “Why are you so worked up on this whole LP Pharmaceuticals thing?”

MJ was silent for a moment as if contemplating what would be her answer. Then she spoke afterwards. “I wasn’t making it up when I said there’s a glitch on their accounting and that their workers aren’t getting paid correctly.”

“How did you know that?”

MJ narrowed her eyes on Peter, as if that question was some kind of a challenge for her. “I know people who work there. Somehow, they managed to sneak some files about the errors on the books. And it’s not just that,” MJ picked up a certain paper on the table and showed it to Peter. “Did you know that some of the factories that LPP owned weren’t approved by the FDA? Yet, they continue to operate. For whatever reason, they are covering it up also.”

Peter frowned. The gears on his brain started to turn. He murmured. “Is that where they hide some of their illegal stuff?”

“What stuff?” MJ frowned again.

“Nothing,” Peter looked up at her. “Still, you haven’t answered my question, why are you making an effort for all of these?”

That’s when MJ looked at him in the eye. Her usual sarcastic tone turned sincere. “Peter, if people will just continue to ignore and keep silent about this because they thought that their voices can’t be heard, someone has to step up and speak louder. The world had probably gone to shit but not that worse that there would be no people who would stop by and listen. I was making an effort for that kind of hope.”

Peter stared at MJ, totally ignoring how his stomach fluttered. “Uh, uhm, c-can I have the copy of that paper you’re holding?”

“Why?”

“L-let’s see if we could speak louder than we could ever do so we can be heard . . .”

“And how would you do that?”

“Michelle Jones, you’re forgetting who my dad is.”

“Frankly, I really don’t like your dad, but I’m willing to take the shot.”

 

“Hi, dad.”

Tony turned around from his seat in the lab and saw Peter standing with a smile on his face, later that night.

“And you’re chipper than usual something good happened at school? Totally aced your exams, right?” Tony said a little bit suspicious.

Instead, Peter raised a sheet of paper so Tony could see the contents of it. Tony leaned forward and frowned to look closely at the paper.

“Oh come on, Peter!” Tony exclaimed and stood up upon seeing the contents about LP Pharmaceuticals.

“But dad. Please, hear me out! Are you sure that the authorities you said who will handle this can be trusted? Because uh, you see, there were factories under LPP that were operating with no proper permits and all. And I was thinking if some higher up folks were helping Pierce and you know those factories could actually be the storage area for his illegal drugs. How about _you_ look that up because you don’t want me getting into it-”

“And you are so totally getting into it! How did you even get that?!”

“MJ. She’s protesting about that because the authorities weren't doing anything.” Peter said. “Anddd, you know trust issues about the said authorities. She was hoping that there would be other good people who will act upon this.”

“I’m not good people.” Tony said.

“Certainly not, because you’re Iron Man.”

Tony looked up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering how he could have a son who could be as stubborn as rocks. Right, he should probably blame himself because the stubborn DNA definitely came from him. The billionaire mechanic gazed back down at Peter whose hand still raised with the paper and waiting.

Tony exhaled a frustrated breath. He snatched the paper out of Peter’s hand.

“Yes!” Peter exclaimed. “Jeez, I thought my arm was gonna fall off.”

“Don’t jig up yet, squirt. We’re not done yet. Listen,” Tony said firmly. “Let’s make a deal. If I look this up, are you going to promise me that you’ll stop now?”

“Until Pierce is behind the bars.”

“See, we’re not making a consensus about this. It’s either you’ll stop and I’ll go take a look or none at all.”

“Fine but you also have to promise me that you’re going to put him behind the bars.”

“That’s not up to me.”

“Why not?!”

“Because someone’s already working on it and Rhodey is making sure-”

Peter gaped. “Woah, Uncle Rhodey is into this too? Is Pierce a national threat now?”

Tony was at the point of pulling out his own hair now. “And I’m not supposed to say that-”

“Come on dad, you’re being unfair now-”

“No, I’m not!” Tony suddenly said in an outburst. Peter shut his mouth. Tony tried to rein in his voice. He spoke quietly. His expression was dead serious. “Mr. Peter Benjamin Parker, you don’t know what you’re dealing with, that’s why I am begging you to stop and forget Pierce now. Go back to your quarters.”

Tony was already calling Peter his full name. That was usually a bad sign for Peter, so the younger Stark relented. “Yeah, okay.” Peter turned around dejectedly and headed out of the lab.

 

So naturally it got worse for Peter when he learned that Pierce might be a national threat now. He plopped down on his bed in his quarters and stared at the ceiling. Sometimes, it could be really frustrating when his dad didn't tell him things, even though he knew that most of those things were adult business that a kid like him had nothing to do with. His phone vibrated at the pocket of his jeans. He sat up and fished out the phone from his pocket. There was a text from MJ.

_MJ: How did it go?_

Peter replied back.

_Peter: Still working on it._

_MJ: Should I keep my hopes up?_

_Peter: Never lose hope, MJ. Never._

There was a knock on his door after Peter had taken a shower. He was rubbing his damp hair with a towel around his neck when he paused and looked at the door. He was wearing a pj’s and a NASA t-shirt.

“Uh, come in.” Peter said.

The door opened and Tony came in, holding a tray of two mugs in it. Like Peter, Tony was also wearing a pj’s, but with a hoodie instead.

Tony paused at the door for a moment, hesitating. “I made some warm milk with honey. I thought these will help us have a good night sleep and make a peace offering too.”

Peter couldn’t help but smile as he pulled the towel off of his neck and put it on the backrest of a nearby chair. “Cool, I was about to drink some milk anyway, but you made it better.”

“Great,” Tony invisibly sighed in relief as he walked in. “I don’t think these will beat Pep’s hot cocoa, but I tried my best.”

Peter chuckled in response.

They settled on the bed, sitting side by side with their backs on the headrest of the bed. They were tucked in under the duvet as they held the cup of milk. Peter was the first one to sip on the milk. Once again, he couldn’t help but a smile to grace his lips at how his dad had nailed the drinks.

“You’re smiling,” Tony noted. “Does that mean Tony’s milk with honey is going for one of the best drinks in the world?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t go that far.” Peter said through a smile.

“Right,” Tony said. That made Peter laugh.

Peter sobered up. “But don’t tell mom that she’s already got a contender against her hot cocoa.”

“I knew it! I totally nailed the drinks.” Tony triumphantly said.

Peter chuckled. Tony put down the mug on the tray resting at the bedside table then leaned back on the headrest again comfortably.

“I’m not mad at you.” Tony began. “I’m sorry for yelling earlier. . .”

“Yeah, I totally get it.” Peter answered, resting the mug on his lap while still holding it. “I know I get to your nerves sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Tony mused out loud.

“Right, most of the time, I’m sorry too.” Peter looked down at his mug.

Tony put his arm around Peter’s shoulder as his son leaned to him.

“Dad, just please promise me that you’ll stop Pierce from doing more bad things. I’m not going to ask more about him but he should be stopped.”

“Of course he will be stopped.” Tony said.

“Thank you.”

A comfortable silence stretched upon them as Peter continued to sip on his drink.

“Anyway, I don’t want you be left alone here tomorrow night, so you’ll have to go back to your aunt May tomorrow, I have a gala event I’m going to attend to.” Tony broke the silence.

“Oh, where? You’re going overseas?” Peter inquired casually as he sipped again on his milk.

“Nope, just around here in Manhattan, I think. Am I right, Friday?”

“Certainly it is boss,” Friday’s voice echoed in the room.

 Suddenly an idea hit Peter. He looked at Tony. “Dad, what if I go with you in this event? I mean if I’m allowed to or . . .”

“I thought you don’t like going to something like that?”

“I guess, I just wanted a distraction so my mind would take off from Pierce.” Peter sighed.

“Good idea,” Tony immediately agreed. “I’ll let May know that you’re coming with me.”

“Good night, dad.” Peter murmured a little bit later, as he lay on the bed and Tony tucked him in.

“Good night, Underoos.” Tony said affectionately and kissed his son’s forehead.

He picked up the tray of empty mugs. Tony headed out of the room as Peter’s eyes started to drop off. He gave his son a last glance before closing the door behind.

He was walking through the dimly lit hallway still holding the tray when Friday spoke. “Incoming call from Col. Rhodes,”

“About time, answer.”

“Tones,” His bestfriend’s voice echoed out from the earpiece Tony was wearing.

“Yes, Rhodey. How was it?”

“Negative.”

Tony paused upon hearing the news. Earlier, the moment Peter left the lab after their argument, Tony had immediately contacted Rhodes to give him the list of the suspicious factories to investigate.

“How negative are we talking about?” Tony resumed walking. “Negative as in there were no illegal drugs or negative as in they’re actually good factories . . . ?”

“Oh, the list had it right that they had bypassed some permits and we’re properly looking deeper into it so those factories could be shut down permanently and yeah no drugs. The place was hella clean as if no living soul had been there.”

“Huh, that’s weird.” Tony reached the dining hall putting down the tray on the table. “I thought they were operational.”

“Yep, real weird as if they had swept of the place to get rid of anything that was there.”

“Man, they’re moving too fast.”

“Yes and I really had to keep up with that.”

“Moving too slow old man?” Tony asked playfully. “My son is getting impatient about the lack of good results, seriously. I could barely hold him back from solo marching on Pierce.”

“Where do you think he got the stubbornness?”

“Oh believe me, I wondered the same thing earlier.”

Rhodes laughed out loud. When he sobered up he spoke. “You know that’s not the only thing I have to deal with when it comes to Pierce.”

Tony sighed warily. “Alright, just keep me posted if anything comes up, and if some assistance is really needed, just drop a call.”

“Nah, I know you’re trying to work on your active duty non-combatant thing and be a stay at home dad. We’ll keep it that way. I’ll just call you to give some updates, hopefully some good updates soon.” Rhodes hung up.

 


	2. Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A beta-ed chapter brought to you by gammathetaalpha!
> 
> Enjoy!

 

They wouldn’t go to the gala event until evening, so Peter occupied himself with some homework. They sat in the lab, his dad on the couch watching tv, and Peter on the floor by the coffee table, all of his books and notes spread on top of it. Peter left just enough room for his dad's socked feet.

The arrival of a text interrupted Peter's serene afternoon.

He stared down wide-eyed at his phone. He couldn't believe the text he had just received.

“No way . . .” He whispered, mouth hanging open.

“What’s no way?” Tony asked, evidently hearing his son.

Peter glanced up at his dad, still wide-eyed. “M-MJ’s asking me to meet her at the coffee shop. . . as in right now . . .”

Tony whistled, grinning like a cheshire cat.

 “So, it’s a date.”

“N-no, that’s impossible. It can’t be a date. Something probably came up and she needed my help . . .?”

“Wear something nice.” Tony instructed. “And by nice, I mean other than your science-y shirt. For god’s sake, I didn’t buy you all those nice clothes so they could make a pretty display in your closet. Have fun and use protection.”

“DAD! Jesus, don't escalate things so quickly! I don’t wanna hear _that_ again.” Peter hurriedly stood up, the papers on his lap scattering all over the floor. His face was beet red.

“What, I was just telling you about how to have safe se-”

“NO!” Peter covered his ears. “Dad, I thought we both agreed that we are never going to speak about this again, after permanently scarring me with the _talk._ I already get it, jeez.” Peter stomped away from the table.

“Hey, how are you going to get there?” Tony called out, twisting in his seat to look at Peter’s retreating figure. “Happy is with Pepper, do you want me to drive you?”

“You don’t need to chauffeur me-!”

“Right, you don’t want to be embarrassed in front of your gal-”

“-I’ll take an Uber!”

“Don’t stay out too long! We still have an event to attend!”

“Got it!”

Tony chortled. He felt a little bit guilty, but he definitely loved to tease his son. He leaned back comfortably on the couch, and resumed watching The National Geographic channel.

 

Peter climbed out of the Uber car. He adjusted his maroon bomber jacket. It was partnered with jeans and Louboutin white sneakers. Honestly, the whole drive back to Queens had been kind of nerve wracking to him. His mind couldn't stop wondering why MJ would have asked to meet up out of the blue.

 Their first date had been a true disaster because MJ had found out that the date wouldn’t have happened in the first place if Harley hadn't set them up. Long story short, MJ had gotten angry with him. She hadn't spoken to him for weeks, and while she did forgive Peter, they didn’t go on another date after that.

Until now, that is. Peter still refused to believe that it was, but a little part of him couldn't help but imagine that that’s what MJ had in mind. . .

Peter took a deep breath before entering the coffee shop. Upon entering, he looked around and then frowned. With his enhanced senses, it took him just a second to know that there was no MJ in sight. Could it be that MJ was just pranking him?

He went outside again and fished out his phone to call MJ, but he was cut off by a scream in the distance.

For regular people, the scream would have been just some distant noise that could be easily mistaken for something else, or could be ignored. But not for Peter’s keen senses. His ears picked it out loud and clear. It made other sounds seem insignificant.

Because he recognized it. It came from MJ.

 Peter immediately darted towards the source of the voice. He cursed when he realized that he wasn’t wearing his suit but fortunately, he had his webshooters. He fished out his webshooters from the inside pocket of his bomber jacket as he continued to run dodging incoming people. The webshooters were just small contraptions when he wasn’t wearing it. But when he slapped it towards his wrist, it morphed around it forming an actual webshooter. He did the same with his other wrist. He then turned sharply into an empty alley and jumped towards the nearby building with the aid of his web, creating a shortcut towards his destination.

Peter looked down into the alley from the edge of the rooftop he was crouching on. MJ was surrounded by two guys in an empty alley, while holding out a taser. Her body was poised in a defensive stance. Her backpack was on the ground behind her. Two more guys were sprawled on the floor unconscious, probably tasered. Peter had no time to admire MJ’s braveness. The two men lunged at her.

Peter leaped out from the rooftop. He slowed his fall with the help of a web, and landed crouched in the corner of the alley. The two hulking figures were too busy with MJ to notice his arrival. MJ was busy trying to protect herself against them to notice him either.

Peter extended his arm to web out a lid of a trash can nearby. He flicked his arm and sent the lid hurtling towards the two guys. It slammed into both of their heads. They yelped and turned around at Peter’s direction, stunned. Peter used their surprise to take advantage of them. He charged straight at them, picking up a steel pole laying discarded to the side as he ran. He hit the first guy in the head with the pole and then ducked to dodge the incoming fist of the second. MJ, who had quickly recovered, managed to taser the first man. He spasmed and hit the floor.

The second man reached into his jacket. Peter’s sharp eyes could see fingers wrap around the handle of something black.

A gun.

Peter leaped forward, and with a quick twist of his right wrist, yanked the weapon out of the second man’s hand. He swung the steel pole with his left arm. There was the dull clunk of metal against flesh. The man’s eyes rolled back into his head. He fell onto the pavement in a heap.

“I am so thanking my dad for lessons. That was really handy,” Peter muttered.  Tony and Peter had been having some defensive and offensive fighting lessons that Tony had dubbed ‘Superhero Gig Lessons 101’.

He dropped the pole and the second man’s gun as he strode towards MJ. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.” MJ exhaled shakily. “Just give me a sec to breath. Damn it.” Taser still in hand, she bent down and put her hands on her knees. She shut her eyes.

Peter gave her a moment. He turned around and looked at the unconscious men in disgust. “Muggers. I swear they’re getting more aggressive every day.”

“Oh no.” MJ swallowed, looking up at Peter, her hands still on her knees. “They’re not muggers.”

“What?” Peter’s head whipped around in her direction.

MJ exhaled once again as she straightened up. She walked towards her fallen backpack on the pavement and picked it up. She looked up at Peter as she dusted off her bag.

“They’re Pierce’s goons. I’ve been followed since yesterday. I tried to stay in public as much as I could, surrounded by people. I called you to meet me right now because I felt like they were going to attack me at any second.” She let out a short, harsh laugh. “Guess what? I was right.”

“MJ, first of all, I think it would have been the best if you called the cops rather than me.”  Peter backtracked when MJ opened her mouth.  “-not that I’m complaining or anything that you called me. I’m glad that you trusted me and all.” He moved on before she could raise objections. “Second of all, why were Pierce’s goons after you? How did you even know that they were Pierce’s people and not just some creepy kidnappers or something?”

“First of all, Peter, do you think the cops would believe me if I said that Pierce’s people were after me? Really? That Logan Pierce, powerful businessman, CEO, would be after some sixteen year old girl? Why would he do that? They’d probably think I just smoked a little too much pot.” MJ opened her backpack and chucked the taser inside. “Second of all, they’re after these.” She pulled out a thick brown envelope from the bag. “These unconscious idiots over here dared to ask me where these were. These are the files that support our claims against Pierce’s evilness.” She raised an eyebrow. “Now who would be interested in these files aside from Pierce himself? These are going to destroy him after all. The stunt he pulled just now proves how guilty he is.”

Peter cursed mentally. He clenched his hands. Anger started to boil within him. How many people were going to get hurt and suffer because of Pierce?

He turned to MJ. “Do you have somewhere you can go to be safe for the time being?”

“My house of course.”

“Right.”

“And how long do you think it will be before someone will hunt me down again?”

“That won’t happen again.”

“Uh-huh, you’re so certain of that because.  . . ?”

 _‘Because Spider-Man is not going to watch from the sidelines anymore,’_ Peter thought.

“Uh, let’s just be optimistic about it.” Peter said instead.

“I’m already in awe of your optimism,” MJ sarcastically said.

“I’m serious.”

“Right, so what are we gonna do about them?” MJ pointed to the unconscious bad guys.

“Let me make a call. Someone else will handle them from here. Then we’ll get you home,” Peter said, dialling his favorite, trusted dispatcher. Being Spider-Man and webbing up tons of robbers and criminals onto walls meant making lots of useful acquaintances.

 

 

“So what’s the distress call all about? And what is that?” Harley asked, plopping down on Ned’s bed. He was looking at the thick brown envelope folder Peter had dropped on the bed.

Peter had asked MJ to give him the files that Pierce was after. MJ was reluctant at first, but after Peter promised that he would give it to a trustworthy authority to serve as evidence, she relented. After dropping MJ off at home, Peter had called his friends and planned an emergency meeting. They all agreed that the meet up place would be Ned’s bedroom because Peter wanted somewhere that would be out of the watchful gaze of his dad’s security cameras. Besides, Ned’s parents weren’t home, so it was a perfect place for some privacy.

Ned tore open a big bag of Doritos and offered it to the other two. Harley took a large handful of chips. Peter waved his hand in refusal when Harley offered him some.

Instead of answering Harley, Peter declared something else. “I’m gonna go after Pierce.”

“And I can already smell a red card being handed to you by Tony,” Harley deadpanned. “But hey, be honoured. It’s Tony’s Stark who’s gonna ground you.”

“I’d be honoured,” Ned said, reaching for the bag of Doritos next to Harley. “What’s with this sudden rebellious feat?”

Peter launched into his story, starting with meeting MJ at the library, how he’d found out Pierce could be a national threat now because his Uncle Rhodes was also working on getting Pierce sent to prison, how it had lead to the argument between him and his dad, and how MJ had been attacked by Pierce’s goons because of that envelope.

“Damn,” Ned muttered. “So Pierce is more of a villain than we thought he was.”

“And he’s more trouble because of that,” Harley pointed out. “Also, you haven’t told Tony about Pierce being after MJ.”

“I just can’t sit here while waiting for things to happen. I need to do something about this. What if Pierce hurts more people just to get what he wants?” Peter challenged.

“If Col. Rhodes is also working on it, Pete, Pierce’s more dangerous than we thought.” Ned reminded him.

“What else is new, Ned? I always deal with dangerous.” Peter answered.

“But this is like a whole new level of dangerous.”

“So be it,” Peter determinedly said. “Now, will you help me?”

Harley and Ned looked at each other. A silent agreement passed between them.

“Tony’s totally going to kill us for this.” Harley turned to Peter. “But sure, we’re in.”

“Yeah,” Ned added. “Besides, what would you do without your guy in the chair? What do we do?”

“Thank you,” Peter said gratefully. Then his expression turned serious. “Right now, we need to find out what Pierce is up to, and discover any of his other evil plans. That’s our best bet.”

“What? How are you gonna do that? You gonna straight up ask him about his illegal business?” Harley questioned.

“How I wish I could do that,” Peter muttered.

“Then what are you going to do?” Ned asked.

“The question is, what are _we_ gonna do,” Peter corrected. “I was thinking the old fashion way. Track him down.” He turned to Harley. “You still have that nanochip with you, right?”

“Of course,” Harley answered. “But remember, we’re still having some technical difficulties with it, like finding a stable power source. How are we going to use that?”

“With this.” Peter pushed up the sleeve of his bomber jacket to reveal his webshooter. “This thing doesn’t only shoot webs, but also releases mini spider drones that are trackers. We can infuse the chip onto this spider drone for an upgrade, so instead of just tracking, we can also hack any gadgets that Pierce’s kept, for example, his phone. Each drone has self sustaining power thanks to dad’s tech, and that should be enough to stabilize and power the chip.”

“I like where you’re going with this, Pete.” Ned nodded in comprehension. “But we still have issues with compatibility and some protocols for the drones to target a phone. . .”

“We can make it work,” Harley said, narrowing his eyes, gears started to turn in his brain. “But to make this work, we need to be in close range with Pierce, you know.”

“That is one of our few hundred problems for the time being. We need him in public.” Peter wrinkled his nose.

“Public, public,” Ned muttered. His eyes widened and he suddenly scrambled towards his open laptop on his study table. He sat on the table and started typing. Peter and Harley went behind Ned to look over the screen.

“Here we go, problem solved.” Ned announced. “I was browsing some info about Pierce last night and I at last remembered that he’s attending some sort of fancy event.”

“Holy Spiders and OJ’s.” Peter was staring disbelievingly at the screen. “Dad and I are going to attend that event in approximately-” He glanced at the clock on the laptop screen. “-five hours.”

“Guess the universe is conspiring.” Harley smirked. “We have five hours to burn. Thank God I’m a boy scout. I’m prepared. I have some supplies in my bag. It should be enough, I hope. And we can improvise some, just in case.”

“Then let’s get to work.” Peter concluded.

 

 

“Dad, are you sure we’re not late yet?” Peter asked. “It’s already nine and I thought the event started at seven.”

Tony barked out a laugh and paused knotting the black necktie around Peter’s neck. “Son, here’s the thing that you need to know about parties and events, the true fun starts at midnight. I would have come a little bit later but since you’re coming with me and I don’t want you staying out late, we’ll come early, well, early in my own definition of time.” He resumed knotting the necktie.

“I will never understand you adults,” Peter only muttered.

Tony snorted a laugh again. “You’ll figure it out someday, don’t worry.” He gave the necktie one final adjustment. “There, done.”

Tony was already wearing Charcoal black pinstripe suit, underneath was a white dress shirt. A steel gray necktie was peeking out. Meanwhile, Peter was also wearing a white dress shirt and gray dress pants. His dad helped him put on the gray coat.

“Perfectly fitted,” Tony complimented, as Peter fastened the final button of the suit.

After Peter was done, he faced the body-length mirror plastered to the wall.

“Well, look at that handsome young man.” Tony said proudly to Peter.

Peter just rolled his eyes, embarrassed.

Tony walked over to a shelf where his sunglasses were displayed. He picked up a slight blue tinted glass with a thick black frame.

“What’s with Tony Stark and the sunglasses?” Peter mused out loud.

Tony put on the sunglasses, looking at Peter. “My eyes are sensitive. Plus, Tony Stark will never be Tony Stark without glasses. Come on, let’s go.”

 All the cameras flashing in his direction as he and his dad arrived at the venue and walked down the red carpet made Peter wish he’d borrowed a pair of his dad’s sunglasses. The light was blinding. Well, Peter couldn’t blame the media upon seeing them together. This was actually the first time they had attended a public event together as father and son.

 The good thing was, no reporters dared to come their way, even if the whole crowd’s eyes were on them. More likely, Tony ignored all the reporters who tried to get a scope from them.

“You okay? Or is it too much?” Tony asked Peter as they reached inside.

Inside the hall, people in posh dresses and suits were milling around. Peter already recognized some high profile people he only had seen on tv, political and private alike. And if Peter had been asked, a _grand_ event was not enough to describe all the finery inside. On the northwest part, there was a small stage set up where a band was playing a soft jazz music. Some people were occupying the center space and slow-dancing, following the cozy beat of the music. While the others, preferred to gather around the high round tables that were strategically set on both sides of the hall, and contented themselves with idle chatting and a sip from their wine glass. And on the other corner, a glass counter was situated manned by at least two bartenders who were giving drinks to the guests waiting on the other side of the counter.

“No, I’m fine,” Peter reassured his dad. He glanced up at the big banner hanging up on one side. “So, you’re one of the sponsors of this event.  . . ?”

Tony also looked at the banner. “Oh yeah, annual charity ball, all proceeds of this party will go to all of the companies’ beneficiaries.”

Peter nodded in understanding. A waiter came to them holding a tray with glasses of white wine on it. Tony waved the waiter off. The man immediately went on another way.

“And I just want to be clear that you are not getting any of the drinks that people with trays offer,” Tony ordered. “Understood?” They started to walk deeper in the hall.

“Yeah, but maybe there’s orange juice here . . . ?”

“Sure, we’ll get you an orange juice.” Tony nodded.

Then some people came their way and tried to talk to Tony, which eventually led to Peter being introduced. As minutes passed by, they met a lot of people who were evidently on the elite status. Peter did his best not to look awkward and answered all of them as politely as possible. Most of the time, Tony was the one who answered for him, which the younger Stark was grateful for. Peter realized that for the first time, he was truly seeing what his dad’s world looked like outside his tinkering lab, and that outside world was kind of overwhelming. Because of that, he almost forgot his agenda.

Peter was standing by the counter with a glass of sparkling orange juice next to him. Tony made him take a break while his dad met some potential investors and businessmen. Though Peter had promised he’d be back immediately, Peter’s phone was out and he was having a group conversation with Ned and Harley.

_Ned: Is he there yet?_

_Peter: Trust me, my spidey sense is working full time, but haven’t got a whiff of him yet. Probably ditch the whole party??_

_Harley: Nah, he’s a vip and vip’s like to get to the party late. He’s going to come._

_Peter: Dad said the same thing earlier. Why do people like to come late to a party??_

_Harley: Dunno, it’s like some sort of unspoken code to them. Ask your dad. He knows it._

_Peter: He just said that I’ll figure it out someday._

_Ned: So, what’s the party like??_

_Peter: dude, it’s huGE, LIKE HUGE HUGE. Seen Senator Winston and Oprah a while back._

_Ned: woah._

_Peter: Yeah_

_Ned: Did you take some pictures with Oprah?_

_Peter: I was too shy to do that and I think this is not an appropriate place to do that. Besides, she’s talking to a lot of people, rude to interrupt._

_Ned: Bummer._

_Peter: I’ll msg you again later if something comes up._

Then Peter pocketed his phone in the inside pocket of his coat. He craned his neck to look for his dad and he immediately found him in one corner talking to some people. Peter used this opportunity for a bathroom break.

After using the toilet, Peter was at the sink and wiping his hands with a paper towel from the dispenser. He looked around. He was totally alone. He shrugged off his coat and laid it on the counter. He unfastened both of his cufflinks, and then pushed the sleeves up. Afterwards, he fished his webshooters out of his pants’ pockets. He couldn’t put them on earlier since his dad was with him and he would’ve wanted to know why Peter was wearing them. He slapped both webshooters on his wrists. They smoothly wrapped around his wrists. He left the cufflinks unfastened and put his coat back on.

Peter re-entered the party and immediately froze upon looking ahead.

Logan Pierce had finally arrived.

Tony used his magic dad sense and materialized right beside him.

“I didn’t know that he would be here,” Tony said. Peter didn’t have to ask who his dad was talking about. “I should have done a quick sweep of the guest list.”

“Is he sponsoring too?” Peter asked, his eyes never leaving Pierce, as the older man smiled and greeted some other guests. The way Pierce smiled too innocently made Peter’s stomach clench. Peter remembered MJ and the protesters outside his building. How could he smile like that when earlier he had almost hurt an innocent person and when other people were being deprived of their rights because of his own greed for power?

“Nope, just a guest,” Tony answered. “You know what, this is probably the best time to go home.”

Peter turned to his dad. “Why are we leaving all of a sudden just because he came?”

“Because Peter, I feel like you’re one second away from decking him.” Tony said. “Besides, you’re not the only one who doesn’t like him. He gives off bad vibes big time and it’s ruining my party mood.”

Peter tried to calm himself. He felt that it was so uncharacteristic of him to feel that kind of annoyance, but then he couldn’t stand the fact that Pierce was having a good time while other people suffered because of him.

“I’m fine, dad. Seriously. I just felt sort of pissed off . . .”

“Pierce really struck a nerve in you, didn’t he?” Tony frowned.

“Yeah.”

“Trust me kid, his merry days won’t last long and soon enough he’ll be doing some yoga exercise behind the bars,” Tony reassured him. “Why don’t we go the other way? There’s this person I would like you to meet. His name is Mr. Park, a very nice guy indeed . . .”

It was Peter’s turn to frown as his dad ushered him in another direction. He needed to be in close range with Pierce to deploy the plan.

“Dad-”

“Tony Stark!”

“Yikes and here he comes.” Tony grimaced as the two of them inevitably paused along the way.

Logan Pierce was coming in their direction. Tony turned around and gave Pierce a smile that didn’t even reach his eyes.

“Logan Pierce,” Tony acknowledged shortly

“It’s good to see you, Mr. Stark,” Pierce greeted. “I was trying to book an appointment with you and talk about a joint deal our companies would both benefit from.”

“Yeah, how about you fix your glitch in your company first before we strike a deal?” Tony said flippantly.

Peter stopped himself from snorting out a laugh.

“You know, that was all a misunderstanding. We’ll fix that immediately and we’ll come up clean,” Pierce placated.

And that set a frown on Peter’s face.

Pierce turned his attention to Peter. “Good God, we’ve finally met the future heir of Stark Industries. It’s nice to meet, you.” He reached for a handshake.

Peter politely smiled and accepted the handshake. When Peter released Pierce’s hand, he inconspicuously activated his webshooter and released a mini Spider drone. Fortunately, Pierce was wearing a black suit. It made the spider drone travelling down Pierce’s suit unnoticeable. It disappeared into Pierce pants’ pocket.

 The Spider drone, inside Pierce pants’ pocket, located the man’s phone. It made its way through the USB porthole of the phone. The screen of the phone lit up.

Meanwhile, both Ned and Harley were sitting at their study table in their bedroom and dorm room respectively. Laptop on and Bluetooth earpiece in one ear, they were patiently waiting. Suddenly, several dialogue boxes simultaneously appeared on their laptop screens, composed of several complicated strings of code.

“Oh my god! We made it!” Ned enthused to Harley through his earphone.

“Hell yeah!” Harley was grinning as he started typing on the laptop. “Let’s just hope our Spider baby lasts. And now let’s dig into some of Pierce’s super secret files.” He couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice.

 

 

“What?!”  Peter exclaimed to Ned and Harley. They had made another meeting in Ned’s bedroom that Sunday afternoon, where Ned and Harley told Peter what they had discovered on Pierce’s phone. 

“Yep, it’s totally happening tonight in the harbour.” Ned confirmed. “He has lots of illegal deals coming up. The one tonight is the closest.”

“We also suspect that he’s working with someone else, some bigger people, we think,” Harley continued. “We just didn’t have time to do further research when our Spider baby gave up on us and malfunctioned.”

“But don’t worry, we are doing our best troubleshooting for Spider baby, so we can get back on Pierce’s phone.” Ned assured.

“I’m going to the harbour. We need straight up evidence against Pierce and this is the perfect timing for that,” Peter declared. “Let’s finish this up once and for all.”

“You’re going alone?” Ned frowned. “That could be dangerous. What about your curfew?”

“Uhh,” Peter bit his lips. “The good thing is, I’m back at Aunt May’s and it’s easier to sneak out there without surveillance cameras and an AI monitoring your every move.”

“Besides, I’m coming with him,” Harley pointed out. “Two asses are better than one. I knew lots of backdoors back at my dorm, so it’s also easy to sneak out there after curfew.”

“You won’t get in trouble for doing that?” Peter frowned at Harley. “You don’t have to come-”

“Hey, don’t take away all the fun,” Harley interrupted. “I’m already in college and profs rarely care about what’s happening outside their lecture hall as long as you’re going to their classes. And you’re right; we need to finish this once and for all. Seriously, I’m getting tired of Pierce’s lame stunts. We’ve lost a lot of good nights of sleep because of him.”

“I would love to come with you,” Ned said. “But my parents would so kill me if they discovered I sneaked out, but I’m fine staying up late, even though there’s school tomorrow, to be the guy in the chair. Also, I’m gonna do CPR on Spider baby so we can get back into Pierce’s phone and know what else is in there.”

“Good idea.” Harley snapped his finger.

Peter was looking back and forth between his friends, overwhelmed at the lengths his friends would go just to help him. “Guys . . .”

“Aww, spidey, you gonna cry?” Harley teased. “Touched by our kindness? Are we going to receive the friends of the century award now?”

Peter just shook his head in exasperation. But he smiled earnestly at them. “Thank you.”

“Then let’s get things rolling,” Harley declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for the last chapter!


	3. Busted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, and I will never get tired of saying this, but thanks to gammathetaalpha for the beta-ed chapter!

Peter and Harley marched down to the harbour later that night. Peter was already wearing his Spiderman suit under his plaid shirt while Harley contented himself with his gray sweatshirt over a green hoodie. It was a rather chilly night at the harbour. Overhead lights drove away the darkness of the night in that area. Tractors and cranes were fully operational, transferring cargo from one place to another. Several container vans were lined and piled up on the pavement across.

“We need to split up,” Harley said, looking around. “This place is huge.”

Peter turned his head to Harley. “If something comes up, call me immediately.”

“Yeah sure, like we planned.” Harley nodded. Then he tapped the small earpiece in his ear, a piece of tech they had managed to smuggle from the Avengers Compound. “Hey bud, you there? Please don’t sleep on us.”

“Well.” Ned’s voice echoed in the earpiece the two were wearing. “These sour-y candies you bought are totally keeping me awake.”

“Glad to know it works on you too,” Harley answered.

“How’s _droney_ doing on Pierce’s phone?” Peter asked.

“It’s Spider baby. That’s its correct name,” Harley corrected. “You’re hurting its feelings. That’s probably why it’s not responding.”

“Still working on it,” Ned answered. “It’s still sleeping on us.”

“Right. Uh, I think we should get going. Ned, continue to give us updates,” Peter said.

 “I’ll take the left,” Harley instructed. “You take the right.”

 

Harley stumbled around the far backside of the harbour. He paused, a distance away from a warehouse that people were coming in and out of. Harley frowned when he saw some of them were holding red cups, and did a double take when he recognized some of the people. They were students from his university. Well most of the people there looked like university students. He didn’t need some enhanced spider senses to hear the loud music that was blaring from the warehouse. He could already hear the echoing of music, even from a distance.

“Keener?”

Harley whipped around and saw a guy in a navy blue hoodie and faded jeans coming his way. It was his dorm mate, Patrick. Patrick had blue eyes and windswept black hair. He had a good solid body build and was inches taller than Harley. Like Harley, Patrick was also in his freshman year of college, but two years older than Harley.

“Oh, Mathiensen. You’re here. . .” Harley trailed off.

“And it’s even more surprising that you’re here. I thought you didn’t like to be at these and shit wait, you’re still minor, is it alright that you’re here?” Patrick finally reached him.

Harley rolled his eyes. He may have been sixteen, but it was annoying every time people would treat him like a baby just because he was a minor. “First of all, what’s going on here? Why are there people going in and out from there-” He pointed at the warehouse behind him.

Patrick looked confused. “Wait, you don’t know? Then why are you even here?”

“Taking a walk.”

“Taking a walk, miles away from the dorm and in the middle of the night whilst breaking the curfew?”

“You’re doing the same thing.”

Patrick laughed. “Right because, a college student can’t miss a frat party once in a while. Remember the party I was talking about the other day? This is what I’m talking about, and since you’re already here, why don’t you take a look inside? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let you take a peek inside.” Patrick was already ushering him towards the warehouse.

“Uh, wait-”

“And certainly, I can’t let you drink any alcohol. God, it’s going to bother the hell out of my conscience. Also, Meghan is there!”

And so Harley was helplessly dragged inside.

 

Spider-Man silently crawled along the side of a container van. He had spotted a suspicious black SUV while he’d walked around, so he had followed it into the deeper and darker part of the harbour. Ten people came out of the black SUV, heavily armed. They walked towards the fifteen men in black waiting ahead, guarding the small steel boxes piled up on the floor.

“Karen, we need to get a better look of what’s inside those boxes,” Spider-Man whispered.

“Activating reconnaissance drone,” Karen said. A spider drone detached itself from the spider logo on his chest. It flew towards the boxes. The spider drone inconspicuously scanned the contents of the boxes.

“The boxes appear to contain large amounts of Cocaine and Methamphetamine with an estimated cost of one million dollars,” Karen reported.

“Woah.” Spider-Man crawled flat on the top of the container van and crouched. “All of them are drug dealers, huh.”

“Only fifteen out of twenty five people in there have criminal records,” Karen said.

“Who among them are those fifteen people?”

The Heads Up Display marked with red the people who had criminal records.

“So basically all the people guarding the boxes are certified criminals, huh?” Spider-Man mused. “They must be the sellers and the newcomers must be the buyers.”

“Guys,” Spider-Man spoke through the comms. “I think I have them.”

 

Back at the warehouse, Harley froze briefly upon hearing Spider-Man’s voice. He was already inside the warehouse. It was loud and smoky and it reeked of alcohol. Patrick had left him a while back, saying he was going to get Meghan and promised that he was going to come back.

“Why is it so loud on your end, Harley?” Ned asked. “Where are you?”

“I was about to ask the same thing.” Spider-Man said.

“Don’t mind me. There’s a more important matter going on here.” Harley answered, dodging a drunk dude on his way. “Is Pierce already there?”

“He’s not here yet, I think, but I’m going to move to a better location. They are surrounded by container vans, so it’s hard to see everyone,” Spider-Man informed.

“Harley!” Harley turned around.

A brunette was beaming at him and coming towards him. She was wearing a long sleeved white T-shirt, half-tucked into her ripped jeans. Her attire was partnered with black ankle boots.

“Meghan, hi!” Harley almost squeaked. Truth be told, he had been harbouring a crush on Meghan ever since she had walked into the lecture hall of their shared class and sat beside him.

“Told you, she’s here.” Patrick emerged from behind Meghan.

“I thought Pats was just joking but turns out, you’re really here.” Meghan continued to smile at him.

“Yeah, I was taking a walk and stumbled here,” Harley said, trying not to melt on the spot as Meghan smiled at him.

Harley thought that everything in that moment was kind of perfect. Then someone had to ruin it.

“Meg! Why did you leave me there?”

Harley resisted rolling his eyes. Chris Radford came to them. He had a big muscular frame. He was a soccer player at the university. He had chopped, short blond hair and menacing gray eyes. Also, Harley hated him because he was an arrogant and a jerk. Well, the feelings were mutual. Chris hated him as well, even though Harley did his best to stay out of Chris’ way.

“You know babe, I hate being ditched.” Chris stepped closer to Meghan and grabbed her arm. He looked drunk and reeked of alcohol.

“Hey!” Both Harley and Patrick exclaimed simultaneously. Meghan squirmed in his grasp. Both Harley and Patrick shouted at him, but Chris turned his attention to Harley.

“Oh, you’re here!” Chris said in mock surprise. “I didn’t notice you because you’re such a pint size.” The small crowd that had gathered around them laughed. Meghan continued to attempt to free herself from Chris’ firm grasp.

Harley ignored the insult. “Let her go, you’re hurting her!”

“What if I didn’t, _kid_?” Chris countered. The crowd laughed even more. “What are you even doing here?” Then he shouted to no one. “Why are you letting a minor inside? For God’s sake!”

“Well, that just proves how much of an asshole you are!” Harley fumed, clenching his hands.

That’s when Chris let go of Meghan.

“What did you just say?” Chris narrowed his eyes on him.

“Harley, what’s going on?”

“Guys, what’s going on? Harley?”

Harley could hear Spider-Man and Ned’s voice in the comms.

“Oh wait,” Harley continued ignoring Ned and Spider-Man. “Let me rephrase it, that just proves how your brain is the size of a bird shit because you failed to comprehend that you’re hurting someone and she didn’t want to be with you. There? Is that better?”

That’s when Chris lost it and threw a punch at Harley’s face.

Harley stumbled back but immediately regained his balance and threw a punch back.

 

 

“Harley? What’s happening? Are you okay?” Spider-Man asked in a hushed voice, as he stealthily crawled across the top of another container van. He moved closer to the bad guys. He could see them having a conversation about the boxes.

“Activating enhance reconnaissance mode,” Karen echoed.

 “Boss will be here any minute,” The first man in black said.

Unknown to Spiderman, someone had seen him. A man leaned over the railing of a steel landing, overlooking everything around the perimeter. He was wearing a gray denim jacket and underneath was a black t-shirt, partnered with jeans. Colonel James Rhodes frowned as he looked at Tony’s son from afar. Fortunately, he was the first one to see the young hero… but more could notice him. He fished out his phone from his jeans’ pocket.

 

Tony Stark was elbow deep in his work in the lab when Friday notified him of an incoming call from Rhodes.

“How’s the mission going, Rhodey Bear? I hope Pierce is already caught red-handed,” Tony greeted, as he put the electrode holder of a portable welding machine back on its docket.

Instead he was answered by the serious tone of Rhodes. “Tony, where is your son?”

Tony frowned. “Well, it’s already bedtime, so probably sleeping back at his Aunt May’s. Why?”

“Oh yeah, really? Because I’m looking right at Spider-Man here at the harbour, sneaking up on the heavily armed goons of Pierce’s. Unless it isn’t Peter behind the mask and there’s already some other dude who’s masking as Spider-Kid.”

Tony closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He opened his eyes. “I’m coming.”

He was about to stand up when Rhodes cut him off. “No need. I’ll escort your son back at home.”

“Thank you. My son and I are so going to have a talk.”

 

“I think Harley got into a fight or something . . .” Ned voiced out through the comms as Spider-Man watched a black Rolls Royce arrive in the area. Logan Pierce was seated inside the expensive vehicle. Spider-Man needed a clear view of Pierce to take a clear recording of it, but he couldn’t shake the idea that something bad was happening to Harley. He was about to abandon the mission when Harley spoke.

“Focus. Focus on what you’re doing,” Harley said. “I’ll be fine. Just do what you need to do.”

“But-” Spider-Man countered.

“Shut the hell up Parker, you have your own battle to fight and so do I,” Harley interrupted. “Just get him, okay?”

“Uh, guys . . .” Ned’s voice also was heard over their comms.

“Ned?” Spider-Man said in a low voice.

 “Spider baby is back and online . . .” Ned answered.

“That’s great, so what now?” Spider-Man continued to watch as Pierce finally climbed down the car. The men in black formed a protective shield around him. The young hero crawled towards the side of the container van and dropped on the ground. He peeked around the corner of the container van.

“And I think Pierce is working with a terrorist . . .?” Ned supplied.

“WHAT?!” Harley and Spider-Man simultaneously exclaimed.

And that’s when hell broke loose.

“Hey, who the hell are you?!”

Spider-Man whipped around. A man in black was standing few feet away from him and was pointing a rifle at him.

“And we’re so busted.” Spider-Man muttered, as he webbed the gun out of the man’s hand, and with the use of web grenade, webbed the guy to the side of a container van.

As Spider-Man looked around, he realized that he was surrounded by Pierce’s goons, guns pointed at him.

“Well, this is bad,” Spider-Man declared. “Very bad.”

 

“WHAT?!” Harley crashed on the floor as he received Ned’s latest update. Blood was oozing down from his mouth. He wiped it. He could also feel blood oozing from the cut on his temple. The crowd had formed a ring around Harley and Chris, who continued their brawl. Meghan and Patrick were at the sidelines shouting at them to stop, but it got drowned out by the chant and taunt of the crowd around them.

“He’s working with whom now? How did this happen?” Harley asked Ned.

“Kid? You gone crazy? Who are you talking to? Oh, is that a mantra, a prayer or something? Asking for some divine intervention to save your ass? ” Chris taunted even more as he looked down at Harley. “Or are you high?”

“Pierce was in contact with this dude named Joe and I looked into who might be Joe is, turns out, he’s one of the most wanted terrorist in the world, also known as Uncle Joe,” Ned rambled. “I also tracked the IP addresses and contacts on the phone and those reached as far as Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“Damn it, that’s why Colonel Rhodes was looking into this.” Harley muttered, standing up. But then he got shoved back by Chris, as he stumbled back once again.

“I said enough of that, you son of a bitch!” Chris was greeted by another punch, but it didn’t come from Harley. It came from Patrick.

Then it was pandemonium.

 

“Guys, let’s chill out.” Spider-Man said looking around, calculating. He was surrounded by at least eight people. “And wrap this up.”

Suddenly, Spider-Man sprung into action. He webbed two people nearest him on both side. He used them to catapult him in the air, dodging incoming bullets in his direction.

“Yeeehaww!” Spider-Man shouted, as he twisted into the air. He landed on the top part of the container van. He spread his arms, webbing another pair and throwing them both into the other guy, knocking them all to the floor.

He flipped to the next guy and kicked him in the chest. “Yep, that sounds about right, you should all rest up and take this easy.” He extended his arm and webbed the nearest crane, pulling him up in the air. He dragged another guy along with him with the use of the web. Yet he immediately let the guy go and stuck him on another container van.

Spider-Man was up in the air once again, swinging. And that’s when he saw it. Pierce was getting away, already inside the car. The car started driving away from the scene.

“No!” He shouted. He was so focused on Pierce that he forgot that there’s one more person left.

And that one bad guy was aiming his gun at him as Spider-Man made a dip towards the ground.

The bad guy fired.

There was a sudden searing pain on Spider-Man’s left shoulder. It threw him out of the momentum and he came crashing down the ground.

“Severe abrasion on the left shoulder detected,” Karen reported.

“Oh no.” He used what little left on his flexibility. Instead of straight crash landing on the pavement, he came rolling to the ground to lessen the impact. However, he mistakenly put his left arm out for support as he rolled to the ground. Spider-Man already knew it before it happened.

“Forearm dislocation detected,” Karen stated again.

“Come on!” Spider-Man gritted his teeth as he cradled his left arm. He lay flat on his back on the pavement. He lifted his head up and saw the same remaining man was unto him and aiming his gun on him.

Spider-Man was about to leap into action when he heard another gunshot, that almost startled him. The bad guy dropped on the floor unconscious. He craned his neck to look where the bullet had came from and saw his uncle Rhodes striding towards him, gun raised.

“I am so screwed,” Spider-Man mumbled.

 

A gunshot.

A gunshot that echoed somewhere from the distance was it all it took for the all out brawl to stop at the warehouse. They all froze at the sound. Another gunshot and all of them were running in a frenzy to get out of the place.

“W-what’s happening?” Harley asked as he got shoved aside against the wall by the wild stampede of college students. “I heard gunshots. Peter, are you okay?”

“I think Peter’s in trouble,” Ned answered instead.

“Shit,” Harley muttered. “I’m coming to him.”

“Keener!” Someone grabbed hold his arm. It was Patrick who was with Meghan.

“Where are you going?” Patrick said. “Let’s get out of here!”

Several gunshots echoed. The people’s panic increased. The three ducked down and were squeezed to one side against the wall to prevent themselves from getting trampled down.

“Mathiensen, listen.” Harley pried his arm off from Patrick. Patrick looked back at him. “Get Meghan out of here. Now. Go to safety.”

“Wait, you’re coming with us!” Meghan exclaimed.

“Probably not,” Harley said, then bolted out before the two could say anything. Harley did his best to push his way through the crowd.

“Harley!”

 

“Goddamn it, Peter,” Rhodes hissed, as he crouched down and helped Spider-Man sit up. “How bad is it?”

But Spider-Man was only half listening. He scanned the area for Pierce’s car. It was gone. He looked up at Rhodes. “Uncle, Pierce’s gone.”

“It doesn’t matter right now.” Rhodes pulled off his jacket leaving him wearing the black v-neck shirt. He used the jacket to cover and put pressure on Spider Man’s bleeding shoulder. “The whole mission was jeopardized anyway.”

“Mission?” Spider-Man asked wincing in pain.

“We set up an entrapment operation for Pierce. Some of our agents were disguised as the buyers,” Rhodes answered. “How’s your arm? You managed to dislocate it.”

“I’m fine.” Though he continued to wince behind the mask, he looked around. True enough, the people he thought as legit buyers were now handcuffing some of the bad guys they had managed to catch.

He looked back again at Rhodes. “Pierce is working with a terrorist?”

“I’m not even surprised that you found that out. That’s why we needed huge evidence against him. He’s pulling a lot of strings to get away with this. Even those bastards we manage to catch wouldn’t be enough to frame him. We need him caught red-handed. We also need to know which terrorist he’s working with,” Rhodes explained.

“And that’s not what we should be talking about!” Rhodes exclaimed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Actually, there’s two of us here,”

“Two?”

“Yep.”

“Who?”

“Harley.”

“You two are so toast with Tony. Where is he?”

 

And that’s how Tony found himself walking in circles as he tried to calm himself down. Worry and infuriation were pulsing through his veins. After being treated by Dr. Helen Cho, Harley and Peter was standing in front of Tony, heads hanging down, like the guilty suspects they were.

As he faced his sons again, battered as they might be, at least they were safe and in front of his eyes, alive. He spoke that mantra mentally. It helped to ease the tension within him.

“Incoming call from May Parker.” Friday’s voice suddenly echoed through the lounge area.

Peter’s eyes widened.

“Perfect timing.” Tony looked at Peter. “Answer.”

“Tony! Is Peter already with you?” May asked. Her voice almost cracked because of worry.

“Yep, standing right in front of me, you’re on loudspeaker.”

“Oh, good,” May said. “PETER BENJAMIN PARKER, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?”

Harley winced. Peter covered his face with his good hand. May’s voice rattled the whole lounge area. Peter swore he saw the pictures on the wall shake.

“I’m having a déjà vu, feel like I’ve heard that before,” Tony muttered.

“Aunt May, I’m okay and I’m sorry.” Peter said in a small voice.

“I’M OKAY MY ASS-”

“There are two young boys in here,” Tony continued to mutter. “Maybe, shape down the language a bit.”

“WELL I AM NOT OKAY, PETER. YOU ARE SO GROUNDED.”

“Already in effect,” Tony said. “No Spider-Man for a decade.”

“Good,” May said. “Also, Tony, can you install some of those security thingies on Peter’s bedroom window so I can know when he’s sneaking out?”

“With pleasure,” Tony immediately agreed.

“Aunt May, come on.” Peter pleaded then looked back at Tony with the same pleading look, “Dad . .”

Tony just shrugged with a look of _what-can-I-do-you’re-aunt-May-said-it._

“Right, right.” May muttered. “All of you get some rest, Peter. I swear.”

“Yup, love you aunt May.” Peter said.

May couldn’t help but answer it, her voice softening. “Love you too, Pete.”

“You’re not really serious about the security alarms on my bedroom window, right?” Peter asked hopefully.

“Who says I’m not?” May said. “Get some rest.” Then she hung up.

“Like Mamba said,” Tony parroted. “You need rest, back to your respective quarters now. We’re not done yet by the way. You’ll hear the sequel tomorrow.”

Harley and Peter prepared themselves for another earful the next day.

 

 

“No, Peter.”

“Uncle Rhodey come on, I swear it wasn’t dangerous or something.”

“You’re talking about Pierce!”

Colonel Rhodes had gone to the Avengers Compound the next morning, which could have been a mistake by how the younger Stark was sticking to him and talking about the taboo subject at the compound.

Rhodes abruptly halted in the hallway. Peter almost collided into his back. The teen stumbled back, but regained his balance immediately. The Colonel could finally understand why Tony was developing gray hairs in an alarming rate. He turned around to look at Peter, who had fully healed overnight.

He put his hands on his hips. “You know you’re already in trouble with your father. I suggest that you don’t make it worse.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to,” Peter defended. “He already locked away the suit somewhere and who knows how long it will be before I got it back. Anyway, I know a way to catch Pierce –listen before you say anything! We could catch him without me being involved. We put a bug on Pierce’s phone! You can track him down with that and know his whereabouts. We already collected some evidence against him but you all wanted him caught red-handed, we could also do that and-”

“Hold on, hold on.” Rhodes raised his hands. Peter shut his mouth. “What evidence? How did you put a bug and what ‘we’ are we talking about?”

Peter beamed at him.

And that’s how Rhodes found himself in the lab with Peter as they both sat in front of a laptop. A thick brown envelope was beside the laptop.

“First of all, I wanted to say sorry about the harbour incident. I didn’t mean to jeopardize everything.” Peter looked down at the keys of the laptop.

Rhodes clapped him on the back. “It’s all right. Everything’s in the past now. But please give your dad a break. Every time you do something reckless and put your own life at risk, he ages a few years.”

Peter nodded.

“Now, you’re gonna tell me something?” Rhodes asked curiously.

“Right, so Ned, Harley and I managed to upgrade my spider drones and then . . .” Peter explained as Rhodes listened.

 

It took them weeks and it wasn’t that easy because Pierce was as sneaky as hell, and laid low a little bit after the fiasco in the harbour. But finally, with the lead of Colonel James Rhodes, Logan Pierce was finally caught in the middle of drug dealing happening in Brazil.

“You know, I gotta admit I was impressed with Pete and his friends,” Rhodes said, as he and Tony watched the news. It was about the new and better management of LP Pharmaceuticals after Logan Pierce had been caught.

“Not gonna be surprised about that,” Tony said. “Coz I certainly know how to pick kids with talents and I mean, awesomeness just runs in the blood.”

Rhodes just shook his head in exasperation.

“We haven’t caught this Joe dude yet,” Rhodes said. “But it won’t be long enough after all the info your kids managed to pull from Pierce’s phone before the bastard could destroy it.”

Tony just shrugged proudly.

“So how long is Spidey grounded?”

“Indefinitely.”

 

Peter looked up from his textbooks as MJ sat beside him in the school library.

“Someone’s happy,” Peter noted.

“Of course, greedy mongers in this world lessened. We should be happy.” MJ opened her novel. It was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.

“Yeah . . .” Peter turned his attention back at his notes.

“Listen.”

Peter once again glanced up at MJ, who’s eyes were focused on her opened book.

“I don’t know what you did,” MJ began. “But thank you. I know you helped. Also about last time in the alley, thank you.”

“Sure, uh no problem,” Peter nodded and tried to focus back on his work as MJ read her book.

Peter couldn’t help but to let a tiny smile taint his lips. He might be grounded, but it was all worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the wrap up for the first shot in the series. Thank you for reading, commenting and giving kudos. Y'all are the best. Stay tuned for the next shot in the series!
> 
> Also, I opened Peter and Tony prompt submissions on [tumblr](https://karenninaaa.tumblr.com) so if you have any prompt ideas feel free to hit me up on T. I may not reply right away but I'm sure that I'm going to look into it. I will be prioritizing submissions via tumblr only because I feel like it would be too much for me, if I also entertain submissions here on ao3. Though, all your thoughts are very much appreciated, you can always drop by on the comment section. I would love to hear from you! x

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


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